Stefánsson calls it quits

Ólafur Stefánsson, arguably one of the best handball players in the world, has announced the end of his career with Iceland's national team.

He broke the news to Iceland TV station RUV exactly 20 years after he had made his debut in the national team's jersey during a friendly match against Egypt.

In his illustrous career Stefánsson scored 1562 goals in 329 international appearances, playing a major part in both of Iceland's major achievements in the recent past: the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the third place at the 2010 European Championship in Austria.

He was voted into the Olympic All-Star team following the 2008 Beijing and the 2004 Athens Games.

The last international match for 39-year-old was Iceland's quarter-final loss against Hungary at the London 2012 Olympic Games and since his future in the national team was up in the air.

Stefánsson last played for AG Kopenhagen but has been without a club following Kopenhagen's bankruptcy in summer this year.

The news comes for Iceland less than two weeks ahead of their first two qualification matches for the EHF EURO 2014 in Denmark. They will face Belarus on home soil on 31 October before playing Romania on 4 November.